PALSY BABIES. 283 



certain districts of France, that the people have given up 

 sheep husbandry. Tessier ascribes it to the pasturage. 

 Gasparin states that it is most destructive in Germany in 

 spring and summer, but sometimes in the winter. He says 

 the shepherds of that country attribute it to the sheep's 

 eating the sproutings of the pine in spring, and some species 

 of dock and garlic in the winter. * It would seem that in 

 regions where it particularly prevails, flocks acquire a predis- 

 position to this malady ; and the farmers of Beauce, in France, 

 either get rid of the whole flock in which it appears, or they 

 kill every sheep in any degree affected by it. f 



PALSY. I never have seen an instance of this malady. 

 It consists in a suspension of the nervous influence on the 

 muscles the opposite of tetanus and epilepsy, by which 

 they are excited to unnatural action. The sheep sometimes 

 becomes powerless in every limb and unable to move ; some- 

 times the palsy extends only to the loins or hind-quarters. 

 It is produced by cold and improper exposure, and some- 

 times, it is thought, by improper feed. Young lambs when 

 yeaned in very cold weather, and lambs soon after weaning 

 when they receive too plentiful and stimulating food, are 

 most subject to its attacks though grown sheep are not 

 exempt from them, and pai-ticularly, says Mr. Spooner, " the 

 ewe that has aborted or produced her lamb with diificulty 

 and after a tedious labor in cold weather." 



The treatment of the disease consists, in the case of a 

 chilled lamb, in the restoration of warmth, and the adminis- 

 tration of warm gruel with a little ginger and if activity is 

 not soon restored, with the addition also of a small quantity 

 of ale. If diarrhea ensues, the " sheep's cordial " is given. 

 In the case of older sheep Mr. Youatt recommends removal 

 to a more comfortable situation, and a purgative consisting 

 of epsom salts and ginger, followed by a dose or two of the 

 cordial. 



RABIES. On Christmas eve, 1862, some sheep belonging 

 to my son, Henry P. Randall, were bitten by a dog. I saw 

 them next morning. The flock consisted of about one 

 hundred ewes, three years old last spring, and in lamb. I 

 thought a dozen or more were wounded ; but as their hurts 

 did not appear dangerous, I did not go to the trouble of 



* Quoted by Youatt, p. 398. t IMd. 



